Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho West in the Volta Region and ranking member of Government Assurances Committee of Parliament, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, has allegedly written to the Speaker of Parliament to announce his intention to resign from Parliament allegedly due to internal wrangling in his party.
The Ho West MP reportedly sent his resignation letter to the speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye on Monday, June 16, 2018 for onward communication to the Electoral Commission (EC) to allow for a bye-election to be conducted.
Citi News broke the story online yesterday and said it has personally sighted a copy of the resignation letter.
Hon Bedzrah is a strong ally and admirer of former President J.J. Rawlings, and is seen as a presidential material.
He is also said to be against the comeback of the former President John Mahama to lead the party for the 2020 general election and has therefore not hidden his views against him.
He also said to be supporting the Second Deputy Speaker, Alban Bagbin, who also wants to lead the party in the 2020 general elections.
Some key party members, who hold national executive positions, are said to be undermining his fourth term bid to represent his constituents, and are bent on thwarting his efforts to stand on the ticket of the party again when parliamentary primaries are conducted because of his strong anti-Mahama comments in the run-up to the presidential primary of the party in December, this year.
The Ho MP’s decision to resign from Parliament has come as a shock not only to the leadership of the Minority NDC in Parliament but his colleague NDC MPs, who were seen in groups today in parliament discussing the issue.
However, some of his colleagues in parliament have also started reading other meanings into his intention to resign as they feel that probably he has been promised a ‘running mate’ position by one of the presidential aspirants.
The MP himself was present in parliament but did not show any sign of tendering in his resignation letter to the speaker and later left parliament with his phones allegedly switched off.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that the leadership of the NDC in Parliament met and tried to convince him to rescind his decision.
According to information, the Ho West MP, who thinks he has served the party very well, both at the constituency and national levels, is very peeved at the purported maneuverings by some key members of the party close to the former President John Mahama to oust him from Parliament and therefore resigning will save his reputation as a highly respected MP in parliament.
The NDC Minority currently has 106 MPs in Parliament, as against the governing NPP’s 169.
The Ho West MP, who is also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, holds Bachelor of Science Degree in Administration from the University of Ghana and is a quantity surveyor by profession.
When DAILY GUIDE contacted the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu on the resignation letter of the Ho West MP, he claimed not to be aware of the issue and did not also have any evidence to that effect.
Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, 51, is married with four children.
He is a devout Christian and fellowships at the Action Chapel International.
Meanwhile, one of the NDC presidential aspirants, Sylvester Mensah was seen in parliament yesterday trying to lobby some of the NDC MPs to support his presidential bid.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr